A couple of Mondays ago I had coffee with Larry at The Presidio Café. We’ve been meeting every other Monday for the past year to talk and play cribbage.
Sometimes Larry wins. Sometimes I win but it’s not important to either one of us. We don’t play for money; we play because we enjoy one another’s company.
I’m very impressed by the way Larry McNutt plays his cards. Not his
cribbage hands because cribbage is a matter of luck when he wins, but is a matter of considerable skill when I win.
No, I’m impressed with the way he’s played the cards life has dealt him. He is an inspiration to me with his attitude toward life.
He’s long retired now after a successful career as an executive in the chemical products industry, supplying various products to companies in the timber industry.
He spends a lot of time at doctor’s offices.
Not long after he retired he lost his wife, the love of his life. He has three sons and a daughter around the country and stays in close touch with them as well as with the children of his present wife, Sara.
He is getting together with all of them in July to celebrate his 80th birthday.
As we sat talking he said, “I went to have some more tests at my doctors while you were gone. It turns out that I have osteoporosis along with my diabetes and cancer.” Then he started to laugh. No bitterness, no regrets, no feeling sorry for himself. He just enjoys life and takes it one day at a time.
He told me his son, who is an M. D. in Green Bay called him a couple of days before and said “I deal with a lot of older patients and you don’t sound like an 80 year old man, you sound like my dad.” Then he laughed again.
What a positive role model he is for me and I think for all of us.
Let’s take a look at our “Hand” – the cards we’ve been dealt – and ask ourselves how we feel about them. We’re all going to get some “19 hands” (zero points in cribbage) and some “24-point hands.”
Success thought for today:
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass;
it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
Courtesy of L.G. “Boo” Bue
Byron
www.byronethompson.com
No tags
